By Sascha Dobbelaere – founder and CEO at Tweave.tech https://www.tweave.tech
Sascha Dobbelaere, founder and CEO at Tweave, gives his insights into the role of robotics in the retail industry. Tweave is a specialist in optimising businesses results through digital means by becoming part of the team, developing intelligent software tools and supporting the change.
As robotics become more accessible, it is expected that the retail sector will move towards the role of robotics in supporting its drive for greater efficiency to deliver on sustainability goals and profit margins. Currently, the concept of having robotics at the heart of operations still feels alien – and also out of budget. However, as the cost of staff continues to increase and the demand from consumers for cheaper, more sustainable products drives their spending choices, we are seeing how the use of robotics is now becoming more attractive to retailers to stabilise growth.
How will robotics deliver greater customer service?
Significant robotics initiatives are already being used across shopfloors to help customers have the best experience – primarily to ensure products aren’t out of stock. This ultimately affects brand loyalty and sends the customer to a competitor.
To support great customer service from a distribution side, robotics picking while people pack is becoming increasingly popular – especially as the online volumes keep increasing and companies can no longer rely on people to fulfil all the customers’ needs. Businesses aren’t looking to replace people. Remember, robots are still costly and complex to maintain, but they are turning to robotics to have another tool in the toolbox – primarily to handle high sales volumes and create a competitive edge in the market.
Is the e-commerce boom driving robotic workforces?
In the past ten years, e-commerce sales have increased five-fold. With consistent growth year on year, global sales are predicted to reach $8.1 trillion by 2026. Companies are actively looking for better ways to handle this massive volume of growth and seeking scalable solutions that keep the cost structure the same.
Robotics are still expensive, but as robots can work 24 hours a day, I expect to see a more significant move to introduce them to support human workers in high-volume environments over the next year. Amazon has announced it will invest a billion dollars in new robotic technology to support its workers. This announcement comes just one month after it revealed its new Titan mobile robot, which can lift 2,500 lbs.
With Maersk and Kodiak Robotics announcing they are opening the first commercial autonomous trucking lane, global supply chains will no doubt start to use autonomous freight deliveries.
Will 2024 be the year of automation in retail?
Undoubtedly, 2024 will see a massive shift towards the greater use of robotics. We have already started to see a huge change in innovations to make global supply chains in the retail sector quicker, more efficient, and ultimately more cost-effective, and this will be ramped up over the next year to ensure supply can meet consumer demand.
As the industry matures its use of robotics, I expect to see better platforms that are easier to deploy. Platforms that are easier to maintain and become much more user-friendly to interact with.
In the last few years, the interaction between man and machine has taken great leaps forward. In the coming year, we will see this symbiotic relationship develop further within robotics.
As we see a further evolution of omni-channel thinking, retail robots will pop up to help customers find products on the shelves, handle basic questions, or suggest products. Customer service will still be a top priority – but how exciting a quick trip to the supermarket might soon be!
